


Not that kind of Doctor

by setaxis



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Angst and Humor, Crack, M/M, New Doctor (Doctor Who), a little bit, but also angst, it's quite (very) silly in parts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-11
Updated: 2015-08-11
Packaged: 2018-04-14 04:27:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4550418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/setaxis/pseuds/setaxis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chanyeol has had many faces over the eons and almost as many names, though his preferred moniker is The Doctor. He travels through time and space alone except for the occasional companion of which Yixing, the hippie/new age healer whose caravan assaulted Chanyeol's face, is to be the next.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not that kind of Doctor

**Author's Note:**

> The first in a series/ multichapter fic. This was written as part of [](http://orange-unicorns.livejournal.com/profile)[orange_unicorns](http://orange-unicorns.livejournal.com/) so please do and check that out and the many wonderful fics there!

 

 

Everything is weird.

Actually, weird is kind of normal for him actually but this is beyond weird. Like, super beyond weird.

His body is just far too _long_ for a start - like everything has been stretched and pulled - and it seems to have a mind of its own. It's like he's been regenerated as a baby giraffe rather than a vaguely human-shaped alien.

 _No, Chanyeol._ He tells himself. _This is fine. You may be struggling to walk in a straight lines but what has that ever done for you anyway? Dreadfully boring. Far too mundane._

He twirls desperately trying to avoid a tree and ends up spinning out of control. _These bloody arms of his keep giving him momentum_. He spins and spins, narrowly missing trees and bushes and several very startled deer as he goes. He tries to yell out an apology but his deer-ese is incredibly rusty so it could have been a curse. Oops.

Suddenly there is a flash of something white and then pain. So much pain. He collapses to the ground with a whimper. He'd forgotten how sensitive new bodies were.

As he's lying there, staring up at the stars in the dark sky, he wonders where he is. By the constellations he'd have to guess somewhere in the southern hemisphere, to the east. The deer mean maybe Japan, maybe some parts of China. What on earth is he doing there? He had planned for Russia. Damn finickety tardis. He wonders what's got his gears in a snit this time.

"Are you okay?" A voice says from somewhere.

"Well that's a very interesting question." Chanyeol replies. "I'm in I don't know where with a giant pain in my head and possibly the body of a long necked mammal rather than my usual preferred form but on the plus side I do seem to have four limbs and am most definitely alive so can't complain."

"Right." The voice says. "I think you're concussed. Could you tell me how many fingers I'm holding up?"

Several appendages are shoved unceremoniously into Chanyeol's line of sight. He squeaks.

"Disembodied fingers! Have they finally become sentient and thrown off their human oppressors?" He postulates, taking said fingers with his own hand and inspecting them closely. To his disappointment however he appear to be attached to a wrist and where wrists go so do whole humans usually. He scoffs. Wrists. They never have any great thoughts.

"Perhaps this is worse than I thought." The voice says again.

"Worse than _you_ thought?" Chanyeol exclaims. "I thought I'd been witness to the birth of a new species! The dawn of a new age! Then I find it's just a wrist."

"You stay here. I'll be right back." Voice promises.

Chanyeol huffs. He's not in the habit of taking orders from disembodied voices with not-disembodied fingers so on principle he'd like to get up and run away. However his body is not cooperating with him right now so he has no choice but to obey. And that's annoying.

He is busy ruminating on the unfairness of the universe (a truth acknowledged by most but understood by very few) when something cool and smooth is placed on his forehead.

"Just trust me, I'm a healer." Chanyeol hears from somewhere behind his head and then some sort of chant starts up, warm and smooth like singing.

 _Oh god,_ he thinks. _this is one of those satanic rituals I've heard about. I'm going to get eaten!_

The world is spinning in a rather disorientating way, colours blending into each other. The chanting grows louder and more shrill. Everything hurts.

He wonders absently if this is what it feels like to die for real.

Xxx

It turns out he is not dead. And if he was, the afterlife looks a lot like the inside of a caravan. His head is still killing him though, however undead he might be.

"I haven't felt this bad since Jongdae challenged me to Garlatican beer pong." He mutters.

"Oh good! You're up."

It's the voice from before! Immediately Chanyeol is on his guard, pulling out his sonic screwdriver and holding it aloft like a wand.

"Stand back!" He shouts. "I have a sonic manipulation device and I'm not afraid to use it!"

A giggle from somewhere behind him. Chanyeol spins round to face the noise but he has forgotten his baby-giraffe body doesn't have motor control and he over spins, facing the wrong way once again.

"Rats." He mumbles to himself. "Where are the breaks on this thing?"

"I hope this isn't the result of that blow to the head."

Slowly Chanyeol inches round in a circle, arms spread wide for balance. He doesn't these spindly legs he's been gifted with. Watching him is a very amused humanoid, a glass of water in hand, wearing possibly the worst outfit ever to grace this universe. Chanyeol doesn't consider himself to be much of a connoisseur of the fashionable arts but he _has_ survived the eighties on Earth without too much regret. He knows when things are bad. And this is bad.

"You're not allowed to be amused at me. Not when you're wearing _that_." He says while finishing his circle so he can face his captor head on.

"Are you sure you should be standing up?" The Voice says, coming from the strangely dressed creature. So it wasn't disembodied after all. Fancy that.

"I'm fine." Chanyeol waves him off, managing to smack himself in the face as he does so. He grits his teeth and smiles. "Just got to get the hang of the controls on this thing. Now, have you a mirror perchance?"

The humanoid looks confused as to whether he should laugh or be concerned and the resulting expression is rather pained. Chanyeol decides that perhaps it might be best to locate the mirror himself and leave the poor creature to catch up - he is aware that he tends to speed through things. He takes a quick scan of his surroundings. He appears to be in some kind of metal box. It's hard to see any of the metal by the numerous drapes and throws and cushions of varying colours strewn absolutely everywhere but by the sound quality Chanyeol can tell he isn't in a traditional house.

"Caravan?" He asks the still dazed not-disembodied voice.

"Um, yes." The creature replies faintly. "You ran into it yesterday, I think."

Chanyeol hums thoughtfully. That would explain the taste of paint and iron behind his teeth.

"And may I ask where we are?"

"Just outside Beijing."

"Earth?"

"Last I checked?" The human shrugs. Not humanoid then, just human. Thank goodness. He was getting worried for a second there. He had seen the stars last night and surmised pretty much the same conclusion - he was somewhere in the orient on Earth - but this human had startled him. Chanyeol has spent a lot of time with humans over the eons and this human - he hadn't felt like one.

A voice breaks through his thoughts and Chanyeol almost jumps. He’d almost forgotten the human was still there. He clutches his chest. One of his hearts feels decidedly off.

"I’m sorry.” The human says. “I just wanted to know if you’d like to see the mirror?"

Chanyeol claps his hands together in glee. Oh, this was the best part of being regenerated – the surprise, the mystique. Just like a lucky dip except the prize was a new set of features.

“A mirror! Yes, let’s have a gander shall we? See what the universe landed me with this time.”

Amused, the human takes by Chanyeol the hand - clearly not convinced that Chanyeol has a handle on his fine motor control - and leads him to a small mirror above the sink in the bathroom. Chanyeol examines himself with barely concealed excitement. Big, brown eyes stare back at him. He lead him to a strong, straight nose and then down to thin but pink lips. He’s rather pretty, even if he does say so himself, and best of all _he has no wrinkles._

Chanyeol laughs delightedly. He turns to the human with a grin. "I’m young! _Finally._ You know, you really don't notice how much being old wears you down until you aren't anymore."

He turns back to the mirror and his nearly blinded by his own smile. Wow, it is huge. And are those really all his teeth?

Then he notices the hair. His eyes widen to almost comical proportions in his reflection. He grabs it, tugs it this way and that just to make sure his new vision isn't defective somehow and this is really _his_ hair.

"Ginger." He whispers reverently. "How long have I waited for this day."

He spins to face his saviour. He grabs them by the shoulders, ignoring the slightly startled look he receives.

"I'M YOUNG AND GINGER!" He yells jubilantly.

The human winces. "And very loud."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I've still got to figure out the volume control too."

Unexpectedly the human laughs. "You're strange."

Chanyeol grins back. "So I've been told."

"I like strange. More fun that way. What's your name, stranger?"

"I am the Doctor, at your service!" Chanyeol attempts to bow but, forgetting he still has his hands on the human's shoulders, he instead ends up planting the bridge of his nose firmly on their forehead instead.

"Ow!" He cries. "This blasted body-"

"Here." The human holds out a green stone to Chanyeol's face and holds it inches above the place where Chanyeol can surely feel a bruise forming. Chanyeol squints at it, feeling himself go cross eyed in the process.

"What is that?" He says suspiciously.

"Jade. It has anti-inflammatory properties." The human starts drawing tiny circles with the stone over Chanyeol's face. It's making him feel quite dizzy.

"And you call _me_ the strange one." Chanyeol mutters.

"You _are_ strange. I just happen to be pretty strange myself." He pulls the stone away and inspect the area for damage. "There, you're done. It shouldn't bruise now."

Chanyeol gingerly brings his fingers up to inspect the area. He prods gently but he can feel no soreness at all. He grabs the stone out of the human's hands and inspects it with his sonic screwdriver, convinced that there must have been some kind of alien tech imbedded in it to brain wash him, but there's nothing. It's just a rock.

He squints at the human, who watches him with curious eyes. "What did you say your name was?"

"I didn't." The human replies. "But it's Yixing."

"Yixing." Chanyeol repeats. "What did you just do?"

"I just focussed the natural healing properties of the jade." Yixing smiles. His eyes disappear into two crescents. He looks sweet and innocent but Chanyeol is convinced there's something more sinister at work here. Now if he could only remember what is making him feel that way...

"Wait!" He points his finger in Yixing's face. "You were the one who tried to kill me yesterday!"

At this Yixing looks guilty. "I was trying to help, not kill you. I've never had anyone react that way to amethyst before - I didn't even think people _could_ be allergic to precious stones!"

Chanyeol isn't sure "people" can be either, and he certainly hadn't known he had an amethyst allergy before Yixing had tried to brain him with one. Having said that he isn't exactly what you might call "people" - a millennia old alien probably doesn't count. Not that he should let Yixing know that. Not yet.

"Some people are allergic to sunlight! It's perfectly reasonable for some people to be allergic to fancy rocks!" Chanyeol bluffs.

"Well you are the doctor here, not me." Yixing says with a kind smile.

Chanyeol is just about to point out that he isn't that sort of doctor when a chime echoes through the caravan. Chanyeol feels a pang of nostalgia run through him because it sounds exactly like the caves on Gakria during the windy season, only scaled down to precisely seventeen thirty-nine thousandths of the size. It may be eons since he last heard it but Chanyeol would know that sound anywhere.

Yixing perks up at the chime and hurries to the front of the caravan. He returns minutes later with a tall and sullen looking youth behind him who stares at Chanyeol with some sort of half assed interest.

"Ge, is this your boyfriend?" He drawls. The disdainful once over he gives Chanyeol, resting particularly strongly on his bowtie, makes it clear he wouldn't be happy about it. Whatever. Chanyeol doesn't care. Bowties are cool.

"No, Sehun." Yixing laughs. "He ran into my caravan. I was just patching him up and then I'm sure he'll be on his way. He's a doctor, you know. I'm sure he's very busy."

Sehun makes some kind of non committal grunt at that statement and Chanyeol can't help but feel offended on behalf of a profession to which he does not belong - being a doctor is a fine and noble cause. Far nobler than whatever this _Sehun_ does with his day, that's for sure.

"If you would like to wait out back Sehunnie I'll just set the doctor on his way. You know where everything is right?"

Sehun nods. He gives Chanyeol one last dark look before swanning behind some of the brightly coloured drapes that were hanging to the side.

"Cheerful chap!" Chanyeol says brightly.

Yixing smiles, but it doesn't quite meet his eyes. He eyes Chanyeol's unsteady legs with concern. "I don't mean to kick you out. You're welcome to stay if you aren't feeling well."

"No, no." Chanyeol waves him off. "I'm fine. Like I told you, just got to get the hang of it and I'll be golden."

Yixing doesn't look convinced. Probably because Chanyeol just tried to make his way to the door and nearly fell flat on his face, actually. That would explain it.

"See!" Chanyeol says, spinning round in a bastardised pirouette. "Golden."

It's quite clear that is a lie but it is equally clear that Yixing doesn't want him to stay. He's glanced back at the curtain that hides Pancake-Face several times during Chanyeol's ungraceful attempt to exit his caravan. Well, if there’s one thing that Chanyeol’s good at it’s leaving.

“Thank you for your hospitality, Yixing.” He says sincerely. “I may have gotten more friendly with some rocks than I would have liked, but it has been marvellous. Now I must be off, temperamental time machines to track down and worlds to save and all that.”

He finishes his speech off with a cheeky wink before walking – okay, falling, mostly falling – backwards out of the caravan. Yixing watches him pick himself off the ground from the doorway with a fond smile on his face and a look in his eyes that is less relieved than Chanyeol thought it would be.

“You’re welcome, Doctor, and you are welcome back any time you like. I would have loved to have talked to you more.”

Chanyeol grins, still ambling backwards. “Careful. I might take you up on that offer.”

“Goodbye, Doctor.” Yixing closes the door to his caravan and Chanyeol is left staring at it. In the daylight it’s easy to spot. It’s been painted to resemble the forest it’s parked in but someone has clearly taken artistic license because it’s covered in flowers of all colours and sizes and the forest Chanyeol can see before him is as drab and dreary as Delta Nine.

He finds himself standing there longer than he means to, just running through the whole encounter in his mind. This Yixing is clearly as weird as Chanyeol is. He hadn't batted an eyelash throughout their whole exchange and Chanyeol had not been as careful about not revealing himself as he could have been. Regeneration leaves his wits a bit shaken up afterwards and Brain to Mouth filters apparently do differ from body to body. That takes a bit of getting used to too.

Still, it was nice to be able to get his bearings and find a mirror to see himself without being treated like a child or a raving lunatic.

 _Speaking of raving lunatics, where has Kyungsoo got to._ He muses.

Ah, Kyungsoo, his wonderfully mercurial Tardis and also the reason why he’s in this whole predicament in the first place. He wonders what he’s done to piss him off this time. He sighs. The forest looms up behind him, dark and cold and forbidding. He’d better start searching.

Xxx

Yixing finds him three hours later in the middle of a clearing, flat on his back with his limbs spread in all directions. The sky is grey like the mercury seas of the main planet of the Yi’kela system, swirling and fierce.

“Thank goodness.” Yixing says. “I was worried I wouldn’t find you.”

Chanyeol regards him solemnly. “It is always the finding that’s the hard bit. The getting lost is surprisingly easy.”

Yixing lies down next to him and stares up at the sky. Chanyeol doesn’t move, doesn’t offer any more conversation until he are both aligned and their fingertips are almost touching.

“I’m sorry I let you come out here on your own.” Yixing turns on his side. “I regretted asking you to leave almost as soon as I’d done it but I had a promise to keep to Sehun.”

“I don’t mind.” Chanyeol replies.

Maybe he's touched by the way Yixing came to look for him, maybe he's still reeling from his regeneration, but the thought strikes him that perhaps he should tell Yixing who he really is. He haven't run away screaming so far - quite the opposite actually - and Chanyeol is feeling the weight of his years right now. However young this body is, the hours spent searching alone in the woods have made his old soul weary.

“Hey.” Chanyeol lets his head flop to the side so he can see Yixing. He grins mischievously. “You want to know a secret?”

“I love secrets!” Yixing says, eyes shining and bright.

Chanyeol makes a big show of looking round the clearing for possible eavesdroppers, even though he's not seen hair nor hide of anyone except Yixing in his whole time in the forest. "You promise not to tell?"

Yixing nods seriously.

"I'm an alien." Chanyeol reveals.

He waits eagerly for the response. This is always the good bit.

"Oh." Yixing says simply. "Yes. I guessed that."

Chanyeol sits up immediately. "What do you mean, you guessed?" He pouts. "That takes all the fun out of it."

“Well, I thought you might be superman or something, that's the only time I've ever heard of someone being allergic to rocks.”

Chanyeol sulks further. Okay, he quite likes the idea that Yixing thought he was super (he is rather spiffing, and, not to blow his own trumpet too much, but this new face of his is rather nice too) but it not being a surprise is rather boring.

“I mean, you don't look much like superman but...” Yixing muses to himself.

"Excuse me?" Chanyeol is very super, thank you very much. He has giant teeth and ginger curly hair, what could be super-er?

Yixing shrugs. “Too many bowties, not enough spandex.”

At that, Chanyeol feels a chill run down his spine. "I don't know what spandex is, but is sounds painful. And unnecessary.”

For a long minute Yixing stares at him then he bursts into laughter. Chanyeol feels very offended. First him being an alien isn't a surprise and then Yixing has the gall to _laugh_ at him when he's vulnerable. He wishes Kyungsoo was here. No wait, he doesn't. He'd probably join in. Traitor.

"I'm sorry." Yixing wheezes in-between fits of laughter. "But your face... You looked so horrified!"

Against his will, Chanyeol feels the corners of his mouth lift up and before he knows it he's joined in, laughter bubbling up his throat and out his lips. It's _loud_ and _booming_ and every thing a laugh should be. God, he loves this new body.

It takes him a while to stop because every time he thinks he's got his giggles under control he'll look at Yixing and start all over again; it's only when the fond look creeps onto Yixing's face that he finally sobers up. It's peculiar. Nobody has looked at Chanyeol quite like that in a very, very long time. Not since-

Chanyeol jumps to his feet, heart pounding wildly. He does want to think about that. He hasn't in millennia so why now? Best to leave that buried far, far down.

Yixing blinks up at him from the floor, surprised. Chanyeol lets the grin that's always threatening to break out on his new face take over (auto-smile, what a handy feature!) and claps his hands together.

"Well, best be off. Can't be hanging around forests all day - people might start to get the wrong idea!" He says cheerfully.

"Do you want to come back to the caravan with me?" Yixing offers, voice laced with that unwarranted fondness. "Have some tea and something to eat?"

Actually, now Chanyeol thinks about it that sounds like a fantastic idea. He'd been so absorbed in his new body and then his search for his errant Tardis that he'd quite forgotten about eating.

He smiles at Yixing. "Sounds lovely."

Xxx

The walk back to Yixing's caravan is loud and fraught with danger.

"The tree jumped out at me, okay?" Chanyeol whines as Yixing forces him to sit down and starts waving the same green stone as earlier over the cartoonish lump forming on his forehead.

"You keep telling yourself that." Yixing says as he slaps Chanyeol's hand away from where it comes up to poke the forming bruise.

Chanyeol pouts. He has been promised tea and something to eat, not silent judgement about his lack of co-ordination. He looks around the caravan to see if he can spot a kettle or something to distract Yixing with – his bruise is really feeling much better and the circular motions are starting to make him feel a bit sea-sick – before spying the curtain Sehun disappeared behind before is pushed wide open. He peers curiously.

There’s a bench that’s covered by cushions and blankets and behind that there is a giant chest of drawers that stretches from the floor to the ceiling. All the drawers are different sizes and labelled in neat Chinese. Chanyeol has a flash back to the night before, purple light and chanting.

“You aren’t a Satanist are you?” He asks bluntly.

Yixing stops abruptly. He stares at Chanyeol with confusion. Seeing his guest still staring off to Yixing’s left he follows Chanyeol’s gaze to the bench before giving a soft sound of understanding.

“I’m a healer.” Yixing says. “Those boxes hold all my healing crystals and that bench is where my patients rest while I heal them. There’s nothing sinister about it, I promise. I healed you, didn’t I?”

Well, Chanyeol’s not sure if that was the crystals or the placebo effect to be honest, but he’s willing to give Yixing the benefit of the doubt. He doesn’t feel like a mass murderer (and Chanyeol has encountered plenty of those in his time). Perhaps his gut is a little screwy right now due to his regeneration but he feels he can trust Yixing, even if he can’t trust his so-called medicine. If he’d have wanted to kill him he would have been dead by now. He’s had the opportunity. And why would he chase Chanyeol out only to spend hours searching for him later? No, Yixing can be trusted. He feels… _right_.

“Okay.” Chanyeol says. “I believe you.”

Yixing looks relieved and happy. He turns back to his giant cupboard to put back the stone he’d been dangling all over Chanyeol’s face when a light starts to flash outside. There’s a whirring that comes and goes in time with the lights. It’s loud and Chanyeol can tell Yixing is scared. Chanyeol isn’t scared. He knows exactly what this is.

“Ohohoho yes!” Chanyeol shouts with excitement. He jumps out of his seat and hurries towards the door of the caravan. Yixing chases after him.

“What do you think you’re doing?” He yells frantically. “You can’t go out there! You don’t know what that is!”

“Yes I do!” Chanyeol yells back, flinging the door open and taking the steps two and a time in his excitement.

There, standing in the clearing right by Yixing’s caravan is a blue police box. It stands almost as high as the caravan, with the lights on the top and an old style phone set by the door. For Chanyeol it’s a sight for sore eyes.

“That wasn’t there before.” Yixing says faintly from the doorway.

Chanyeol shakes his head, grinning like a madman. Kyungsoo has come back to him. He isn’t stranded.

“You know I said I was an alien.”

“Yeah?” Yixing looks confused and still a little scared. He looks cute.

“Well, this magnificent device you see before you is my Tardis!” Chanyeol waves his hands in a jazzy manner.

“It looks like a British police box.” Yixing doesn’t look convinced. He looks the most sceptical Chanyeol has ever seen him including when Chanyeol tried to convince him he had full control of his limbs.

“Well, yes.” Chanyeol falters. “But it’s a Tardis.”

“That’s the name of your spaceship?”

“Kind of. Well, his name is Kyungsoo actually but his type is Tardis I suppose. Or maybe not type but class? I’m not really sure what it would be…” Chanyeol rambles. He sees Yixing get more and more confused out of the corner of his eye.

“Come with me.” Chanyeol blurts out, hand outstretched. He doesn’t quite know what possessed him to say it but now he has it just feels right, like it did with his previous companions.

Yixing stares at him. His eyes flicker between Chanyeol’s hand and Kyungsoo. His gaze lingers a while on Kyungsoo’s door, almost longingly, and hope blooms fierce and bright in Chanyoel’s chest. Then he shakes his head. “No, no. Thank you Doctor but I can’t.”

Chanyeol’s hearts sink. “It’s a time machine.” He wheedles, aware that this is a bit pathetic. “I’d have you back in time for tea, if your promise to your patients is what you’re worried about.”

They stand still for a while. Chanyeol probably looks like a dog, begging with his eyes for Yixing to come with him. Beyond pathetic really but then again he has never had any qualms about his methods so long as he achieves his goal in the end. He’s cruel like that and he knows it.

Yixing looks undecided. He’s brought his fingers up to his mouth and is chewing on his fingernails. Chanyeol notices that they’re bitten to the quick and then he notices how red and shiny Yixing’s lips are. He looks away quickly, focussing his gaze on Yixing’s eyes instead. It seems like an eon before Yixing pulls his hand away

“Okay.” Yixing says finally, a kind of determination in his eyes. “Okay, Doctor. I’ll come with you. I’m probably stupid for trusting you, but you’re the first person that hasn’t me crazy on first meeting me in a very long time and it felt nice. You don’t feel like a bad person. The earth tells me you aren’t, anyway.”

That has to be the strangest reason anybody has ever given for trusting him, and Chanyeol has heard some weird ones in his time.

“Really?” Chanyeol is giddy with excitement.

Yixing laughs. Now Chanyeol thinks about it, Yixing’s laugh sounds a lot like crystal bells. It’s pretty. He wants to hear it again.

He grabs Yixing’s hand and starts pulling him towards the Tardis door. “Oh, we’re going to have so much fun, you and I!” Chanyeol grins. “There’s the moons of Ochinus Prime, and the caves of Bracchion. Oh, and of course we have to go to Gakria, and visit my friend Jongdae, you’ll like him – he’s a bit of a weird chap but then all the best people are-”

“Wait, wait!” Yixing says, still laughing. “That all sounds amazing, but can’t I get some stuff together first? Like my crystals? If you’re anything like as accident prone in space as you seem to be here then I’ll be needing them.”

Chanyeol resists the urge to make snide comments about Yixing almost killing him with his healing the first time. “No, of course!” He says instead. “You won’t need anything else, we won’t be gone that long so you just grab your stones and I’ll make sure everything is tidy. Meet back here in five?”

Yixing beams. “Back here in five.”

He scampers off into his caravan as quick as a hare, long billowing scarf flying behind him like a flag. Chanyeol turns to Kyungsoo and lets himself in. Hopefully Kyungsoo’s snit doesn’t mean the place is a mess.

It isn’t. In fact it’s surprisingly clean. Chanyeol hums suspiciously. An idea forms in his head. Kyungsoo left him stranded in the middle of the forest, miles from where he was supposed to be. Then he refused to let himself be found and _then_ he turns up right outside Yixing’s caravan. This seems all very suspect to Chanyeol.

“Did you do this on purpose?” He shakes his screwdriver at Kyungsoo’s console. “I’ve told you about meddling.”

Kyungsoo doesn’t deign to reply, simply flicks the door open with a bang. Yixing stands outside, awed. He peers in, eyes wide and jaw slack.

“Ah, Yixing!” Chanyeol bounds over and leads him inside, shutting the door as he does so. It’s strangely reminiscent of the Yixing leading him out of his caravan into the forest.

“It’s so…” Yixing starts.

“Big?” Chanyeol finishes for him. It’s the first thing people usually mention. “Yes, it is bigger on the inside.”

“I was going to say pretty!” Yixing says, awestruck. “And it feels – I can’t even describe it.”

“Oh.” Chanyeol replies. He looks round at the inside of the Tardis. He supposes the golden panels and domed ceiling are quite pretty. He’d stopped noticing after a while. Kyungsoo certainly doesn’t seem to mind the compliment though as he purrs contentedly from the heart of the Tardis. Chanyeol rolls his eyes.

“So then, Yixing.” He says, trying to get his new companion’s attention away from his rather temperamental time-machine-slash-space-ship and back where it belonged. With Chanyeol. Yixing looks away from the wall where he’d been stroking the metal.

“Yes?” He says.

“Where do you want to go?”

Yixing smiles prettily. He has dimples that sink into his cheeks and Chanyeol wonders how he didn’t notice them before.

“You said we can go anywhere, right?” Yixing asks, grip tight around the strings of the bag he has slung over his shoulder.

“Of course.” Chanyeol spins round with his arms wide and outstretched, making Yixing laugh his bell-like laugh again. “The universe is your earth-based shellfish!”

Yixing grins at him. “Then let’s go everywhere.”

Chanyeol hums thoughtfully and punches some buttons on the control panel. “Everywhere, huh?”

He pulls the lever to his left. The Tardis starts to whir in the familiar, comforting fashion Chanyeol is used to. The sound ebbs and flows as he feels them move out of this time and place and into the vortex of the fabric of time, hurtling towards their destination.

_Everywhere, Yixing had said. Chanyeol likes the sound of that._


End file.
